Just one week after snap election in Greece brought to power leftist and anti-austerity SYRIZA, it is already possible to chart some of the shock waves reverberating across Europe. This by itself is a first.
Three meetings in the first 3 days of SYRIZA in power -since the government was formed last Wednesday- gave unusually clear indications, at least about European politics becoming less lethargic in the following weeks.
The highlight was the meeting between the new Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis and Eurogroup's president
JeroenDijsselbloem on Friday, preceded by the meeting between the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz and the new Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras and the participation of Greece's Foreign Minister, Nikos Kotzias at the extraordinary Foreign Minister's meeting on Ukraine in Brussels.
During these meetings, Greece's fledgling government achieved more that could be expected from it in such a short time. Using shock tactics it shaped the negotiating field and introduced the initial negotiating parameters.
The Dijsselbloem – Varoufakis meeting, on Friday had one main message: Greece no longer accepts the Troika of IMF, EU and ECB as an interlocutor. It is willing to negotiate with established institutions like the EU, the IMF and the ECB, as well as Member State Governments, but not with ad hoc bureaucratic committees which it considers to be of dubious legality. Bottom line, it will approach all issues at a political and not technocratic level with the intention to find a “win – win” solution.
In a press conference calculated to disorientate him by a prominent display of disregard for the modalities shaping until now the contacts between past Greek governments and it's interlocutors, Dijsselbloem was obviously wrong-footed and unable to hide his irritation.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Tsipras, Martin Schulz was spared the public embarrassment. His exploratory visit yielded the assurance that Greece is not willing to exit the Euro and it is ready to negotiate with European Institutions and Member States for a solution that will be best both for Greece and Europe.
But the main message was that the SYRIZA government is not going to do a U – turn on its positions as many expected to happen after the election. Schulz was politely, but firmly, reminded that Germany bears huge responsibility for corruption and clientelism in the Greek State and was provided with documents supporting these allegations. He was told that the movement against the German inspired austerity policy “will spread across the continent”.
Just one day later, Martin Schulz dinned in Strasbourg with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's president, Francois Hollande, reporting on his fact-finding mission in Greece. And a few hours later it was announced that Yanis Varoufakis will visit Paris on Sunday to meet his French counterpart instead of starting his visits to European capitals from London next week, as scheduled. With Germany trying to remain aloof and almost stone-walling the new Greek government, the fraying German- French axis is showing signs of a “good cop – bad cop” approach in order to establish communication channels while also trying to “lay down the law”.
A glimpse of the relationship with France and Germany came during last week's third meeting, this of the Foreign Minister, Nikos Kotzias at the Council in Brussels. During the two days leading to the meeting, Greece objected to a common statement of Heads of State and Government published without it's consent, giving rise to dire predictions of a Greek veto that would derail EU policy towards Russia.
According to Kotzias' own account, the only country that threatened to veto the resolution was the UK and this after France and Germany, recognising the validity of Greece's arguments, introduced a “compromise text” withdrawing the paragraph about new sanctions against Russia that the UK insisted upon.
In its opening moves, the new Greek government managed to set the agenda for the days and weeks to come. The other actors have not yet shown their hand. This will develop in the run-up to the European Council summit on 12 February and, certainly, the Eurogroup Summit on 16 February.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/greek-government-shapes-field